Race issues, is there any hope?
I didn’t vote for Barack Obama.
While I am not a fan of President-elect Obama’s politics, I — am — a realist. Since it became obvious to me last summer that Mr. Obama was going to win the election, I have been nursing the hope that his victory would have a profound effect on the issue of race relations in this country. The elevation of a black man, in an open and free election, to the highest office in this land and, indeed, one of the most powerful positions in the world, is a clear indication of how far we have come.
While it would be foolish to expect the ripples from this election to be felt so soon, it is human nature to hope. The deafening silence from renowned race-baiters Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton over the last few months has fed those hopes.
All is not sugar and spice, however.
The blatant attempt to use the race card to affect the decision on whether or not there will be a fight over the seating of Senate appointee Roland Burris is proof positive that the issue of race is still a powerful tool in politics. Instead of focusing on whether the appointment is appropriate or not, based on the scandal surrounding the embattled governor, the race card was thrown in order to deflect the discussion into an area where emotion, and not logic, prevails.
The race issue is not just a political tool used in the big arena. There is a segment of society that clings to the racial divide with a fervor that is, to my eyes, fanatical.
An example of those whose focus is on finding, or creating, racial tension, is a blog I have been reading for a couple of months, Racialiscious. The most recent entry is a typical example of race baiting and hypocrisy that is, sadly, yet another example of how far we have to go.
The article, “White American Culture is General Tso’s Chicken and Chop Suey” is typical of the hyper-sensitive and angry rhetoric on the website. They can’t seem to see the hypocrisy in the constant reference to “White Americans” in what is, to any rational person, a common trait to Americans of all races. I can only guess that the author of this particular article has never eaten a pizza in Italy.
The perception of racism in the corporate world is also not new and has become so ingrained that even highly respected activists like Earl Pace (BDPA Founder) has fallen into the trap. His statement in a recent interview with Computerworld shows how even the best intentions can be derailed by bias: “In my early years, I was vice president of a financial services firm, responsible for hiring technical people, and I hired based upon ability. As it turned out, I probably hired an equal number of African-Americans and whites.”
Don’t let the examples above convince you that I am without hope. For every example like those above, we can find just as many examples of people who are actively attempting to dispel the blind activist mindset and adapt the battle for equality to the changing world around them.
President-elect Obama has declined to back Burris and statements like those of Rev. Eugene Rivers (a black pastor from Boston and senior adviser to the Church of God in Christ, the biggest Pentecostal denomination in the country) show that there are those out there actively working for a cease-fire: “It is another statement on how black politics is now — that the old regime, the old outlook, the old perspective has been displaced, you can’t use 50-year-old ideas in a new political era.”
I don’t know what the future holds, but this is not 1900 or even 1950. I believe the most strident racial activists need to wake up to the brave new world we live in and realize that they are doing as much harm as good.
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Mau-mauing (see Tom Wolfe’s essay “Mau-mauing the Flak Catchers”) has been such a big racket for so long that it’s probably not realistic to expect it to just stop, even though Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have been momentarily stunned into silence. The election of a black president puts large numbers of professional mau-mauers out of work, so the attempts to play the race card will probably continue for a while, but as they are met more and more with dismissal, they may taper off eventually. Nobody seems to be impressed with Bobby Rush’s wails about Burris being railroaded by racists. Still, old habits die hard, and it has worked so well for so long that it might take a little while for the mau-mauing to fade away.
Preacher,
The day we get over this shit will be Jubilee. The prisoners will be set free, both black and white. We’re not so different. We’re Philadelphamericans, and proud.
Clark